Countywide : Recalling the Point of Holiday

Cities, agencies and organizations throughout the county are approving proclamations and making promises to remember the original Thanksgiving Day at the request of Los Amigos of Orange County.

The community activist group passed out more than 100 pledge sheets urging organizations to remember the holiday so people will realize that everyone in the United States, with the exception of Native Americans, comes from immigrant backgrounds.

“The real spirit of Thanksgiving is that it’s a celebration of family and friends,” said Galal Kernahan, a Los Amigos spokesman. “Family are our own kind and friends are of every kind, and that’s the point we’re trying to make.”

He said many people forget the story of Thanksgiving and celebrate the day by watching football games instead of giving thanks.

In 1620, refugees arrived in the United States by ship and suffered through a miserable winter but survived with the help of Native Americans.

By the next fall, “the newcomers got together with the Americans to celebrate life and friendship,” Kernahan added. “In a letter dated Dec. 11, 1621, an immigrant named Edward Winslow explained how the first Thanksgiving was organized ‘so that we might . . . rejoice together.’ ”

Kernahan said that 100 Black Men of Orange County, the city of Lake Forest, the Green Ribbon Campaign, Alto Care Medical Group, Alliance Working for Asian Rights and Empowerment and Victory Outreach Church have already made the “Remembrance Thanksgiving” pledge. The second annual informal campaign is endorsed this year by the Orange County Human Relations Commission.